Art: Nightmare Alley

A crucified man whose body had been pierced again and again by long
knives and large nails hung last week on canvas in Beverly Hills' Frank
Perls Gallery. Near him, in another painting, a green nude was trussed
up and suspended like a sheep being carted off to slaughter. Equally
ghoulish was the subject matter of most of the pictures in the
exhibitionbut undeniable power showed in their uninhibited color and
eerie distortions.

The paintings were the work of tall, gaunt James Strombotne, 26, one of
the most promising of the young figurative...